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18
limits of what may be established with certainty, working as we must with evidence that
cannot persist in the historical record in its original form.
Organization of the Study
In each of the following chapters, evidence for elements of Greek and Roman sacrifices
that affected a particular sense is examined. Given the broad spectrum of rites involved
in and associated with sacrifice in the ancient world, I limit my consideration for the most
part to those activities that took place within the sacred precincts of urban temple areas. I
am aware that by excluding such related events as games and, especially, processions
preceding sacrificial rites, I am passing over not only rich sources of evidence for cult-related
sensory experience, but also the opportunity to discuss aspects of the
incorporation of the experience of cult into the broader landscape of the city.26
Nevertheless, I feel that the material related to the sacrifices themselves is extensive and
variegated enough to permit placing this limit on my topic.
My purpose is to analyze sensory stimuli that were intentionally included in
sacrificial rites. For this reason, “accidental” or peripheral sensory elements (for
example, the odor of the excrement of animals produced at a sacrificial site, or the
physical stimulation of the crush of a crowd of worshipers) are considered a separate
class of sense object and are excluded from consideration in my first three chapters. I do
not mean to imply by this exclusion that this other class of stimuli does not provide
interesting clues about the experience of ancient sacrifices; in fact, such aspects are the
26 A brief discussion of certain aspects of processions related to the Roman imperial cult is, however,
included in Chapter One.
Object Description
| Title | Making sense of sacrifice: Sensory experience in Greco-Roman cult |
| Author | Weddle, Candace Cherie |
| Author email | candaceweddle@gmail.com; weddle@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Art History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-04 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-04-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Pollini, John |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Yasin, Ann Marie Bitel, Lisa |
| Abstract | Performing a sacrifice was one of the most sensorially full actions undertaken in the Greco-Roman world. The production and control of the correct movements, scents and sounds were prerequisites for summoning, communicating with and propitiating deities. Sacrifice was also ubiquitous, occurring on an almost continual basis as a range of sacrificial activities were celebrated publicly and privately in a variety of locations in urban areas. Cultivating a multi-sensory understanding of the full range of sensory elements that accompanied ancient cult rites – visual and auditory cues, things smelled, tasted and touched - provides a platform for achieving a more thorough knowledge of the meanings of the rites.; This dissertation examines the archaeological, literary and epigraphical evidence for the role of the senses in Greek and Roman sacrifice in order to analyze the social and ritual importance of the senses, the impact of sacrificial rituals within ancient urban spaces, and the sensory experience of the ancient worshiper. Given the ephemeral nature of much of the evidence for sensory elements of worship, as well as the subjectivity inherent in representations of sensory experience in literature and art, this dissertation argues for the necessity of crossing disciplinary boundaries in order to appreciate the sensory impact of ancient sacrifice. Therefore, in addition to utilizing traditional historical and art historical approaches, methodological tools from the field of anthropology and evidence from studies in the animal behavioral sciences and consumer sciences are employed. For example, I suggest that greater understanding of the experience of ancient sacrifice may be acquired through an autoethnographic investigation of modern religious sacrifice. To that end, I analyze my experience of the slaughter of large numbers of bovines during the Islamic Kurban Bayram sacrifices in Istanbul to make suggestions concerning certain elements of the sensory experience of ancient blood sacrifice. I focus not only on the sensory experience of humans participating in (or within range of) sacrifices, but also on that of the animal victims. Given the immense ritual importance of the behavior of sacrificial animals in antiquity, I suggest that it is possible to identify some sensory aspects of the sacrificial process that may have been intentionally manipulated in order to control the reactions of the victims as far as possible.; Particular attention is paid to mundane aspects of the process of sacrifice not often addressed in ancient literary sources or represented in art that would have resulted in notable sensory impacts on areas surrounding urban temples, for example the removal of sacrificial refuse. I conclude not only that these elements of sacrifice formed an important part of the sensory experience of Greco-Roman cult, but also that their effects were more far-reaching – in terms both of how great an area they affected and how long they lasted – than has previously been recognized. Using fresh interdisciplinary approaches to well-known examples of texts and images, this dissertation employs a more visceral approach to the study of the sensory experience of ancient sacrifice than is possible when considering textual and archaeological evidence alone. |
| Keyword | archaeology; autoethnography; cult; Greece; religion; Rome; sacrifice; senses |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Rome |
| Geographic subject (country) | Italy; Greece |
| Coverage date | circa -0600/0600 |
| Coverage era | Greco Roman |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3788 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Weddle, Candace Cherie |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Weddle-4363 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume48/etd-Weddle-4363.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 36 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 18 limits of what may be established with certainty, working as we must with evidence that cannot persist in the historical record in its original form. Organization of the Study In each of the following chapters, evidence for elements of Greek and Roman sacrifices that affected a particular sense is examined. Given the broad spectrum of rites involved in and associated with sacrifice in the ancient world, I limit my consideration for the most part to those activities that took place within the sacred precincts of urban temple areas. I am aware that by excluding such related events as games and, especially, processions preceding sacrificial rites, I am passing over not only rich sources of evidence for cult-related sensory experience, but also the opportunity to discuss aspects of the incorporation of the experience of cult into the broader landscape of the city.26 Nevertheless, I feel that the material related to the sacrifices themselves is extensive and variegated enough to permit placing this limit on my topic. My purpose is to analyze sensory stimuli that were intentionally included in sacrificial rites. For this reason, “accidental” or peripheral sensory elements (for example, the odor of the excrement of animals produced at a sacrificial site, or the physical stimulation of the crush of a crowd of worshipers) are considered a separate class of sense object and are excluded from consideration in my first three chapters. I do not mean to imply by this exclusion that this other class of stimuli does not provide interesting clues about the experience of ancient sacrifices; in fact, such aspects are the 26 A brief discussion of certain aspects of processions related to the Roman imperial cult is, however, included in Chapter One. |
